FIVE FAMILIES were left homeless Thursday night after a suspicious fire, started in garbage bins, sent flames into a five-unit, three-story apartment building at 658-660 Rimmon St. in Manchester. Fire officials estimated damage at $177,000 but that did not include owner Fern Vachon's two Jaguars that were stored in a padlocked garage in the rear. Both cars and the two-story garage were destroyed in the blaze. (Pat Grossmith/Union Leader)
MANCHESTER – The fire that drove nine people from their Rimmon Street apartments Thursday night was intentionally set, a fire official said.

Flames swept through the rear of the three-story building at 658-660 Rimmon St., causing about $177,000 in damage to the building along with three other buildings and power lines, fire officials said Friday.

No one was hurt, though nine residents — including three children — were displaced from the five-unit building, District Fire Chief Michael Gamache said.

Susan Morin was visiting her daughter on nearby Hevey Street when she said she saw flames shooting more than 30 feet into the air.

"I never saw flames just so big and such black, black smoke," said Morin Friday morning, she'd driven through the alley behind the building to get a closer look at what remained.

According to the fire department, the blaze caused $150,000 in damage to the Rimmon Street apartment house and garage, owned by Fern and Linda Vachon; $5,000 in damage to siding on 644 Rimmon St.; $10,000 damage to siding at 666-668 Rimmon St; $2,000 to a garage and fence at 661 Hevey St; and $10,000 damage to power lines.

Owner Fern Vachon said he'd only returned from Florida yesterday. He learned the building he's owned for 30 years was in flames in a phone call around 12:30 a.m. Friday from a fire official.

He said the $177,000 damage estimate does not include his two Jaguars - a 1989 SJ12 with only 13,000 miles on it, which he'd bought brand new, and a 2000 Jaguar. The cars were stored inside a double padlocked, two-story garage in the rear.

The cars are now buried under the charred remains of the garage.

The five-unit apartment building was heavily damaged in the rear. Utilities have been disconnected to the building.

"There's no way they can live there," Vachon said, standing outside the burned-out building Friday morning. "It's a mess."

Thankfully, he said no one was injured in the fire and everyone made it out to safety including a mother and her three children who lived on the third floor of the building.

"We're just lucky nobody got burned. That's the most important thing," he said.